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Man killed in Tipperary mine collapse

Driver killed by undergound rockfall at Lisheen

Fri, Apr 5, 2013, 12:32Updated: Fri, Apr 5, 2013, 14:25

Lisheen Mine in Co Tipperary. Photograph:Alan Betson/The Irish Times

A driver has been killed by a rockfall inside a mine in Ireland. The man in his 40s was buried in the loader he had been operating in a shaft of Lisheen Mine in Co Tipperary yesterday evening.

“The alarm was raised around 4.45pm and the mine rescue services were immediately mobilised to the scene,” a company spokesman said. “The driver of a loader was found trapped in his vehicle underneath a rockfall.”

The mine worker was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lisheen Mine, which employs about 370 people and is part of the Vedanta Resources Group, said that the rockfall was a localised incident and no other worker was injured. The mine rescue team and emergency services have been working to safely move the man’s body to the surface.

Search teams, local gardai and members of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) were called in to the mine as part of investigations. The

Lisheen Mine is a lead and zinc mine between the villages of Moyne and Templetuohy in north Tipperary.

Investigations, including the HSA and a company inquiry, have begun and the mine will be closed until further notice, the company said. “The management and staff of the mine extend their deepest sympathy to the family and to his colleagues. Our thoughts and prayers are with them,” a spokesman added.